Divergent's Theo James: Shailene Woodley and I Had Natural Chemistry

Most Read

Meet your new heartthrob: Theo James. As Shailene Woodley's romantic interest, Four, in the brave new world of Divergent, James is a lover and a fighter (as a trainer in the Dauntless faction, he teaches Initiates how to survive their death-defying boot camp). James might look familiar to avid Downton Abbey viewers for his turn as Lord Pamuk, the man who died in Mary's bed in season one, a role so brief but so smoldering that it was only a matter of time before we'd get to see him in real action. James, who tried to interview us instead of the other way around ("What faction would you be in?" he wanted to know), chatted with ELLE.com about his chemistry with Woodley, his fear of getting shredded by a shark, and getting inked up. Oh, and it's worth imagining his answers in James' real-life timbre: a low, sexy growl.

How are you doing?

I'm good, I'm good. Where are you?

I'm in New York right now, where it's freezing!

Yeah, fuck me! So are you wearing 17 different layers, I imagine?

Not right now. Where are you?

I'm in L.A., and it's raining. It was raining all last night, which is nice, because the ground feels like it was dying, and it needed it. [Laughs] I think the water table here is very low. But anyway, we digress. Tell me about yourself. Where were you born?

Actually not far from where you are now. Orange County.

Ah, cool! Kind of like that TV series? [Laughs] I'm kidding, I'm kidding. So what made you want to be a journalist?

I've always wanted to be one. What made you want to be an actor?

[Laughs] I was trying to interview you for as long as possible. What made me want to be an actor? Ah, I'm not really sure, to be honest. I was one of those little kids who did it around school, and then I got to university and made lots of bad plays and short films, and then midway through that, it suddenly dawned on me that this might be a satisfying way to earn a living, if that was at all feasible.

I heard you dressed up as Batman back then.

How did you know? That's very sexy information. [Laughs] I dressed up when I went to The Old Vic, which is an old-school, post-grad place, which is like drama school, essentially, and famous English dudes went there. Not that that makes any difference, particularly. But we had a big house party, and I remember the whole living room got completely destroyed, and me and my friend, we dressed up as Batman and Robin. The old-school Batman and Robin, not the Christian Bale.

And I heard you had to stuff your crotches, to emphasize a certain part of your costume.

No, that was all me. All me. [Laughs] But you've got to exercise...certain spatial issues.

Four is so named because he has four fears, which we learn through his simulated fear landscapes. What would be your own fear landscape?

I have none. I have no fear. [Laughs] No, I'm kidding. One of my fears would be getting torn apart by a great white shark. I love the ocean, but I always have this deep fear of getting torn apart by a great whitey.

In the 'Divergent' book, Four is not that much older than Tris, Shailene's character. But in the 'Divergent' film, you are.

Yes. For the sake of the film, he's a bit older, and I kind of wanted that. As great as the book is, it made more sense for there to be a bigger gap, because then he would have the experience to not only be the kind of dark, fucked up character that he is, and have all the complexities of the things that he's been through, but also he would be a lethal weapon, physically. You can't become a legend, one of the most dangerous people in a kind of military section, within a year or two. Not that I'm like a ninja legend, but I like the idea that he had been there a little bit longer, because it made him a bit more interesting. And I had an immediate affinity with him. I felt I kind of knew who he was, and how I wanted to play him. There are similarities we share, because you inevitably bring a part of yourself to every role you do, some more than others. But he is different. He has a stillness and a masculinity that is reminiscent of those more old-school characters that you see a bit less these days, especially in the younger age group. Also, I think he has a wisdom that is beyond his years, so that also helps play into the fact that I'm obviously older than Shai. And he's somebody who doesn't need to be shouting from the rooftops. He can step back, and he's kind of a watchful, thoughtful person, with a really strong moral philosophy.

Which is represented on his back, via his huge tattoo of all the symbols from the different factions—Dauntless, Abnegation, Erudite, Candor, and Amity.

It took a while to put that on! Sometimes four hours. It was a pain in the ass, but it was fine. It's obviously not a bad job to sit in a chair for several hours. You can't complain. What I liked about it was that there's a specific aggressiveness about it, and I didn't want it to look too soft or something. But it has a tree-like visceral element to it, which is cool, but maneuvering that on to someone's back is a work of art in itself. We used to put music on and chill and eat food, while they repeatedly touched my back.

Shai got to do some touching as well. She's been very kind in her description of your love scenes, because she's been saying that you're a great kisser.

Well, good! Cool. Nice. Good work, Shai! I paid her money to say that. Not much, though. She's a very open and fun person, and that always helps. Especially if you have a bit of natural chemistry, inevitably, it's going to make the scene better, and we definitely had good chemistry from that start, which is something you always hope for, whenever you get stuck in a love story for the next however long....And you do things together to bond. You make the effort, you really do, because it does make things so much easier in the end.

But also, especially with this kind of movie, it was kind of lucky in a way because our relationship naturally mirrors the relationship between Tris and Four. When you start a movie, you don't really know each other, you're trying to feel each other out. There's a bit of excitement, nervousness—who are these people? Are they going to piss me off? Or am I going to think they're awesome? Or whatever. And then as you get to know each other, more true feelings of friendship and caring come in. And that's the same with Tris and Four. She doesn't know who he is: Is he dangerous? What's his agenda? And he can't really figure her out. She kind of pisses him off, but he also has this affinity and instant love for her, and as the story kind of progresses, it becomes a love story.

What's the coolest thing you learned about Shailene, from working with her?

What I realized is that she's probably a much better person than I am. I was impressed by her level of ethical ability to kind of strive to be a better person—like with her environmental issues. Some peoples say to recycle, but they preach it and don't actually do it. Shai is 100 percent genuine in her way and very real. She really does those things in a way that puts us all to shame. She tried to convert me in terms of food, but my tastes aren't as refined as hers. She loves raw garlic and specially picked produce, which I'm all for, but I'm kind of more an instant gratification person. I'm a bit of a dude. I like meat. But I am buying it more responsibly, where it's more sourced responsibly. She definitely opened my eyes to some of that.

If you were sorted into a faction, your cast mates said you would be Erudite...